[Sima Yi]: A full withdraw. Looks like Yuan Shu is letting his guard down.

[SMY]: If Sun Ce lives and takes this execellent opportunity to establish his base, but unfortunately…

[SMY]: Thanks.

[Shan Wu Ling]: For what?

chapter 139 Cornered and Crippled

[SMY]: Thanks for not telling them that I’m the bookkeeper for the Sima clan.

[SWL]: You’re just a nobody, so it doesn’t matter.

[SMY]: Right, compared to milady’s preciousness, I have no value.

[SWL]: The Shan clan always return favors.

[SMY]: What favor?
[SWL]: For saving my face.

[SMY]: You think I was kidding?

[SMY]: I said I’ll marry you, and I will!

[SWL]: Marry me?

Ha ha ha…

[SWL]: Ha… Keh… Keh… Keh…

[SMY]: Take care. It’s not over yet.

[SWL]: Thanks.
[SWL]: You made me feel much better.

[SMY]: Then, could milady also tell a joke?

[SWL]: I don’t know any jokes, but I can tell you some stories.

[SWL]: And one of them will surely raise your spirit.

[SWL]: The rise of the Shan clan… had a lot to do with the Sun clan, and so the two stayed on good terms.

[SWL]: After lord Sun Jian’s unfortunate death, his descendents came to the Shan clan to avoid their enemies.
[SMY]: Why? Doesn’t the brother of Mrs. Sun, Wu Jing, have a base at Danyang?

[SWL]: Danyang is a small city, not strong enough to keep out their various enemies, so they needed another way out.

[SMY]: Yuan Shu is a gallant man, and also Sun Jian’s former boss, so why not go to him?

[SWL]: Yuan Shu is only agreeable on the surface, and he has always wanted to eliminate the Sun clan, so why would Sun Ce choose this path?
[SWL]: Besides, Yuan Shu had a hand in the Sun clan’s downfall, therefore the Shan clan was their only choice…

[SWL]: Except at that time, our supporter Cao Cao wasn’t strong enough. In addition, Sun Ce needed more resources if he wanted to retake the Eastern region. Thus he had to serve Yuan Shu.

[SWL]: Because of this, we taught him a strategy.

[SWL]: One that will allow him to start over and avoid dragging Wu Jing into hot waters.

[SWL]: Then Yuan Shu took in Sun Ce, as well as those former subordinates who came after him.
[SWL]: Amongst them are the well-known Generals like Han Dang and Huang Gai, who Yuan Shu really liked.

[SMY]: Yuan Shu took them in just because of a few famous Generals? Couldn’t milady make this story a little clearer?

[SWL]: You really are no ordinary bookkeeper.

[SMY]: Yuan Shu delayed killing Sun Ce…

[SMY]: I believe Sun Ce must have something that can act as his protection charm.

[SMY]: If I’m not mistaken… that something must be the Imperial Seal.

[SWL]: Correct. As long as Yuan Shu doesn’t have it, he wouldn’t dare to kill Sun Ce. And if Sun Ce can retake the Eastern region, then there’s a thread of hope…

[SMY]: The Shan clan’s strategy couldn’t be just for a thread of hope. If Ms. Shan wasn’t confident about it… you wouldn’t have come personally.

[SWL]: That thread…

[SWL]: is for catching a big fish.

[soldier]: General…
[Gan Ning]: I’m fine.

On that day…

the two of us exchanged secrets on the battlefield…
The content wasn’t important… I just thought that it was strange.

Or I should say… I kept trying to get the truth out of him,
because I want to understand it all before I die.

For some reason, I feel that we’re very similar,

for the likes of us tend to keep the truth to ourselves.

If the mission isn’t yet complete…

we’d hope to take our truth to the grave.

I understand his reluctance, but, with his last breath, he finally says…

[Sun Ce]: I’m… sorry…

[SC]: My Lord… I…

[SC]: my failure has killed…

[SC]: a friend…

{headbands read: exact revenge}

He didn’t say the exact words, but with just this clue… I understood.
Imperial Seal is destined to be taken; and Sun Ce is destined to die.